A copper Swiss cheese kettle

Copper kettle used to make Swiss cheese at the Tuscobia Cheese Factory near Rice Lake, Wisconsin, c. 1910 to 1969

Local cheese factories and creameries were an essential component of the dairy farm economy in the early twentieth century. Before the development of good roads and refrigerated trucks, getting a perishable commodity like milk to market was difficult. Milk that could not be consumed locally was turned into cheese or butter, which could be preserved and shipped more easily. Swiss cheese was traditionally made in round, copper kettles because the metal heats quickly and uniformly. This kettle was made by an unknown manufacturer in the first decade of teh twentieth century and used for decades in the Tuscobia Cheese Factory near Rice Lake.